


Iscariot

by XV_ictorious



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Blood, Execution, F/F, Friends to Enemies, Gen, Reflection, Regret, Sweat, Tears, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24632500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XV_ictorious/pseuds/XV_ictorious
Summary: Byleth faces a fallen Edelgard in the Imperial throne room and must make a difficult decision.An alternate Silver Snow where the Black Eagles students still side with Edelgard.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Kudos: 16





	Iscariot

As the red-clad emperor collapsed to her knees before her, Byleth Eisner, with her pale green hair approached, taking only but a single step at a time. The clacks of her boots on tile echoed hauntingly through the Enbarr throne room. Her tattered white cloak was stained with splashes of deep red. She dragged the tip of her fabled blade, the Sword of the Creator, behind her, scraping it across the floor. A screeching sound invaded her ears. This woman has finally fallen. Her former student showed such promise. Such unimaginable determination to do what was right. In the days of the academy, she called Edelgard a friend. She knew no other with the same capacity for kindness. No other had opened their heart fully to her, and she had never opened her own heart for another since. Those intense lavender eyes now laid shut as Edelgard bowed her head in defeat.

“Edelgard!” Byleth roared as she marched up to the fallen emperor, horned headpiece dangling from her forehead. Rips and tears in her armor show the hard-fought battle prior to this engagement. Edelgard bled from gashes all along her arms and legs. She clutched her abdomen with one hand, while propping herself up with the Sword of Seiros in her other.

A cough came from Edelgard. “My teacher. It seems you have won.” The pained words enveloped Byleth’s ears like rust. She didn’t dare to look up at her opponent. Her disheveled white hair dangling from its lodging. She accepted her defeat and now only waited for her sentence to be fulfilled.

“Is this what you wanted, Edelgard?” Byleth nearly stumbled through her words, exhausted from fighting, relieved to now be faced with ending the war. “Hubert? Petra? Dorothea? Ferdinand? Your friends? They died for you. They died for your cause. For a future you promised that they would never live to see. They trusted you…”

She was cut off by a sharp hiss, “Enough!” Edelgard opened her eyes, now staring her fury deep into Byleth. “I won’t have you tarnish their names with your insults.” A single tear drifted its way down Edelgard’s cheek. It slowly found a path through the grime and sweat and blood before finally dripping off her chin to the floor, carrying with it a life’s worth of hardship and struggle. “If you’ve come to lecture me one last time, save your breath. Even now, the fighting continues. Our allies are still killing each other with each moment you keep me alive.” She bowed her head once more. “So do it. Claim your victory.”

Byleth sighed, her own hair fell before her face. “This can’t have been what you were asking for.” She lifted her blade, extending it to reach just in front of the emperor. “But you got more than you bargained for.” Byleth struggled to keep her strength, shaking from everything she felt, letting her sword fell back to her side. With a single strike, she would take Edelgard’s life. She would put an end to the years-long war that brought devastation to Fódlan. She would leave herself without the only real friend she ever had. She didn’t know if she truly believed the words she was saying or if she spoke for someone else. But she made her choice in the Holy Tomb. She chose to defend her life and that of her students. If Edelgard were to attack the only place she felt she belonged, where she finally felt alive, she vowed to protect it. And protect it she did. “Edelgard, why did you have to throw away everything you had for… for this?” She gestured around the throne room. The bodies of Edelgard’s soldiers laid still, littering the ancient hall. Their souls surely found no peace for their sacrifice. Byleth wondered how many of them willing gave their lives for Edelgard and how many had nowhere else to go. How many of them joined the Imperial army because it promised a livelihood, anything at all to look forward to.

Edelgard fell into another coughing fit. “It didn’t have to be this way.” A harsh whisper fell from the emperor’s mouth. The words weighed heavy in the room, dragging Byleth down with them. “Our paths could have been aligned had you just walked with me, my teacher. Had you just listened, seen what I showed you.” She huffed, teetering on the balance of her sword. She was clearly fighting through her last breaths. “If we had just been together.”

“You had this coming the moment you threatened Rhea. When you threatened me.” Her words scraped against her throat as she said them. She felt the betrayal just as vividly now as she did when it happened. She thought of her students, those days that should’ve been full of smiles and laughs and jokes and tea and joy. But they were denied that. They were forced to grow up too quickly. She would never forgive Edelgard for taking that away from them, all for her war. She would never forgive Edelgard for destroying the only place she could call home. She knew Edelgard fought for what she thought was right. She knew it probably was for the best. But she couldn’t help but feel selfish. For the first time in her life, she found a community at the monastery. Her students. The faculty. Every single one of them opened her eyes to a new part of the world she had never truly known. But when Edelgard raised her weapon against Rhea, her entire world came crashing down on her. Everything she thought she knew was ripped from her. The only one she trusted with her full self had turned on her.

For the briefest of moments, Byleth felt something stir in her chest. A single pounding that felt as though something were trying to escape. Like something was attacking her from within. “Edelgard…” she began to say, a moisture building in her eyes. When her father died, Edelgard stayed up with her through the night, comforting her, sharing her pain as if it were her own. Because in reality, it was. “You were like a sister to me.” A drop, a salty tear flowed down her own cheek now. It dragged along with it the weight of everything she had done, the people she killed, those she taught and faced on the battlefield. Until it, too, fell to the earth just as they did under her might.

Those purple eyes drifted back to burn into Byleth once more. “I only wanted to walk with you, my teacher. My sister.” She sighed, blood seeping from her wounds, collecting in a puddle beneath her. As her life was leaving her, so was her burden. The weight she bared alone evaporated in that chamber as she would be finally free from her eternal torment. “But now is not the time to lament. You must take your victory now, or you damn the rest of them to suffering. Please, Byleth. Do it.” She looked sorrowful, yet happy. She wore a slight smile for only a moment before she let it go.

“I’m sorry Edelgard.” She lifted her blade for the last time, above her head. “Trust that I will lead Fódlan into an era of prosperity. I will carry your torch.”

“I do. Thank you. I love you.” When Edelgard released her final words, Byleth let her blade fall to reach her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I was heavily inspired by that scene in the throne room and wanted to explore that space a little bit more and make it less one-sided. I hope you liked it! I also now have a proper, where you can follow me @xv_ictorious. I'm also now taking commissions! If you're interested, you can fill out this form: [Commissions.](https://forms.gle/BCTupdRV3xiUpxcJ7) Bonus points if you understand the song that inspired both the title and some of the content of this piece :P


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